The New Don Con
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Let me begin by saying that Donald Trump is an abject failure. He won’t read anything past sentence one, the body of every paragraph—or full article—skipped. He’ll even prove my point by referring to this piece as a diatribe of repeated slurs against his character. Incidentally, I’ll give him credit if the word ‘diatribe’ is in his vocabulary. Regardless, it has to be said. Trump’s entire being is predicated on nothing more than cheating and lies. A self-proclaimed billionaire that cannot pay a bond for his civil fraud suit. A successful businessman that neglects to pay his bills, who cooks the books for his businesses, who lies about his finances however it suits his grift to secure loans or avoid paying taxes. This is a man who has not only eluded culpability his entire life but reality as well. Even when the truth is somehow favorable to him, Donald constantly inflates the information to such a blatant and shameless degree as to make the man laughable. |
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Trump campaigned for president as an affront to his predecessor who once told a joke about him. That one bout of laughter prompted him to run, fueled by anger alone, and still, no one was more shocked than Donald when election results named him the 45th President of the United States. His campaign was merely an exercise in vanity, fury, and narcissism and it backfired, forcing Trump to actually work for the first time in his life. What followed was more of the same witnessed on the campaign trail, this time backed by all the power the office afforded him. And for four years, many in this nation were riddled by anxiety over what this greedy, dirty, pusillanimous man-child might inflict upon us… and the world.
History can illuminate his term in more detail. My point here is that Donald Trump is unfit for office. He was then; he is more so today. And for multiple reasons, but none more clearly than his current state of affairs regarding all the legal troubles that currently plague him. Karma is finally catching up with this man and it is tearing him down relentlessly.
Now, with each new charge against Trump and every million stripped from him, so with it goes a sliver of sanity. You can see it, if only partially, taking its toll on the man. He is clearly more unhinged this time around. (Unbelievable as it may sound.) And while it may come off as the same old bluster the blowhard ever fashioned, it is clearly tainted by his increasing panic and every effort to avoid all manner of accountability that haunts him to this day. He’s already on the hook for over $83M in his defamation case from E. Jean Carroll; his reluctance to pay proves the cut to his bank account somehow injures him more than the liability for sexually abusing the woman. Add to that the $454M bond needed in his latest civil fraud ruling, and here is where things get reeeeeally dangerous…
Despite all his claims to the contrary, constantly boasting about how rich he is, it was recently brought to light that Trump cannot secure the funds to post bond, as he does not have enough financial liquidity to pay up. Additionally, Trump was rejected by 30 surety companies to secure the bond, declining to accept his cash and properties as collateral. This inches him closer to the possibility of having his properties seized. Moreover, for every day the money is not paid past the March 25th deadline, interest accrues: that $454.2 million total—which includes pre-judgment interest—goes up by $111,984 per day, $3.4 million per month and $40.9 million per year, based on a 9% annual interest rate.
So why do I say this is dangerous?
As I said, Trump is now in panic mode. Though it may be hidden under and/or attributed to the veneer of his constant vitriol, behind closed doors the man is freaking out. That fear occasionally slips into his daily rants and ravings on the campaign trail and most certainly litters his posts on Truth Social. This fear is what makes Trump a bigger threat this time around. Before, he was running on ego, greed, anger, and narcissism. This time, it’s all of that compounded by desperation.
For the moment, set aside the fact that Trump says he will be a “dictator for one day” or any of the other myriad frightening possibilities if the man is re-elected. The fascism is blatant and scary, yes, but let’s not put the cart before the horse, so to speak. At this very moment, months before elections occur to select our next president in November, Donald Trump is a serious threat to our national security. As Representative Sean Casten (D, IL) stated: “any foreign adversary seeking to buy an [American] President knows the price”.
That price is half a billion dollars.
What’s more, there is no legal requirement for Trump to divulge where or from whom the money was obtained should he somehow do so, even if the American public demands it. And as someone who has never faced reality—especially in light of all the troubles he now faces—Trump is undoubtedly poised to accept any offer made available to him. The pressures are mounting and his desperation, charged by his sociopathic narcissism, means Trump will seek refuge by any source, regardless of the price. For those not paying attention: that price is America.
Because it’s all about Trump. It always has been. And yet here we are, entertaining the notion of handing this man the keys to our nation once again.
Let’s be clear: Trump is running for President again to attempt to regain the office and authority that will allow him to negate or dismiss all the eligible investigations & charges against him. He aims to absolve himself of any wrongdoing (perceived by others, of course) in election fraud, insurrection, conspiracy, obstruction, and a myriad of specific felony charges, currently numbering 91 in total. This is his sole purpose for running.
Regardless of his chances (since both polling data and the American public are fickle and unreliable) there are two outcomes…
One: Trump wins re-election.
As outlined briefly above, everything gets thrown out the window and Trump once again avoids culpability. An un-confirmed—yet obvious—criminal is once again the most powerful man in America and he will rule in the fashion hitherto unafforded to him during his first term. Like the “strong men” he admires, he will govern like Kim Jong Un, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his endless love, Vladamir Putin. You think he didn’t want to leave the White House the first time? Pshaw!
In short, democracy will end in America.
Two: Trump loses the election.
This scenario is equally alarming, mostly because Trump is laying the groundwork for just such an outcome. After making years of unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, he is dialing up warnings that there could be an even bigger theft this time around. So, basically, if Biden wins the election, it was rigged; if Trump wins, everything is alright, alright, alriiiight! Obviously, this is bullsh*t, but it is nightmare fuel in the sense that Trump’s inevitable ‘I told you so’ after an election loss would stir up his MAGA base into a frothing, hysterical mess! Think January 6th, but bigger, badder, even bloodier. By his own words, if he loses, “It’ll be bedlam—It’ll be a very bad thing.”
And here’s the kicker: bedlam will likely follow in either scenario. It’s just a matter of severity and longevity.
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In short, Trump is a detriment to our nation and a danger to the planet. As evidenced by his mounting legal troubles and his reactions to them, he quite literally has nothing to lose. A cornered animal is almost as dangerous as a wounded one. Trump is now both. You might not recognize it under all the Florida-orange caked layers of make-up, but the ultimate (and mostly televised) downfall of the former president is an illustration of white privilege most delusional and white fragility most defining. He will destroy America, not because he wants to (though he may) and not because he can (though that’s more than obvious) but because he simply cannot help himself! Why? Because, as I said earlier: Donald Trump is and abject failure. It’s the history of his life and the list grows daily. Whether he knows it or not, he’s destined to prove this fact to his family, the nation, and the world. |
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And he’ll tear all of that apart as he neglects to admit it to himself.
"The truth unquestionably is, that the only path to a subversion of the republican system of the Country is, by flattering the prejudices of the people, and exciting their jealousies and apprehensions, to throw affairs into confusion, and bring on civil commotion...
"When a man unprincipled in private life desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents, having the advantage of military habits—despotic in his ordinary demeanour—known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty—when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity—to join in the cry of danger to liberty—to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion—to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day—It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may 'ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.'”
Alexander Hamilton
Objections and Answers Respecting the Administration, 18 August 1792
